This is a Commodore PET. The initials stand for Personal Electronic Transactor.

The computer does not have a hard drive.Users had to save files onto floppy discs instead.Users wrote commands in a special programming languagecalled BASIC.

Chris Batt

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Chris Batt

Chris Batt used a Commodore PET computerat Croydon Central Library:

"You really had to know what you were doing all the time; you had to put in a long stringof typed commands just to save a file on a disc. You had to learn by ferreting around because there was nothing standard.

But it was the first computer which could be used to write letters or do databases so it was a pioneering machine really.When people look at what those computers could do now they just look silly."

"But when the history of the late twentieth century is writtenone of the most significant phenomena identified will be the change from a highly specialised piece of equipment through to something that everybody's got in one way or another. If you haven't got one sitting at home with a keyboard, you've got one in your washing machine, in your television, in your car or whatever."

"The microchip and computer have just taken over society. And the Commodore Pet represents one of the first pioneering steps towards that."

Bringing computers into the home

The Commodore PET was part of a technological changethat swept across Britain.New Information Technology brought personal computers,faster communication and new jobs to Croydon.

From 1979, Croydon Library used a computer system to record the issue and return of books.However, the Commodore PET was straightforward enough for any member of staff to use.By 1985, computer technologyhad changed again.Users could now multitask onApple Computers' MacIntosh and IBM's Microsoft Windows computers.

Find Out More

The Computer Museum at Bletchley Park is a hands on exhibition of computers and their software.

It traces the development of computers and their impacts and usesin the office and at home.

You can find out more about visiting the Computer Museum and see a sample of the collection by going to their website: